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KACE Systems Management Appliance 14.1 Common Documents - KACE Service Desk Administrator Guide

About the KACE Service Desk Getting started
Configuring the appliance
Requirements and specifications Power-on the appliance and log in to the Administrator Console Access the Command Line Console Tracking configuration changes Configuring System-level and Admin-level General Settings Configure appliance date and time settings Managing user notifications Enable Two-Factor Authentication for all users Verifying port settings, NTP service, and website access Configuring network and security settings Configuring session timeout and auto-refresh settings Configuring locale settings Configuring the default theme Configure data sharing preferences About DIACAP compliance requirements Configuring Mobile Device Access Enable fast switching for organizations and linked appliances Linking Quest KACE appliances Configuring history settings Configuring Content Security Policy
Setting up and using labels to manage groups of items Configuring user accounts, LDAP authentication, and SSO Deploying the KACE Agent to managed devices Using Replication Shares Managing credentials Configuring assets
About the Asset Management component Using the Asset Management Dashboard About managing assets Adding and customizing Asset Types and maintaining asset information Managing Software assets Managing physical and logical assets Maintaining and using manual asset information Managing locations Managing contracts Managing licenses Managing purchase records
Setting up License Compliance Managing License Compliance Setting up Service Desk Configure the Cache Lifetime for Service Desk widgets Creating and managing organizations Importing and exporting appliance resources
Managing inventory
Using the Inventory Dashboard Using Device Discovery Managing device inventory
About managing devices Features available for each device management method About inventory information Tracking changes to inventory settings Managing inventory information Finding and managing devices Registering KACE Agent with the appliance Provisioning the KACE Agent Manually deploying the KACE Agent Using Agentless management Adding devices manually in the Administrator Console or by using the API Forcing inventory updates About Remote Control Managing MIA devices Obtaining Dell warranty information
Managing applications on the Software page Managing Software Catalog inventory
About the Software Catalog Viewing Software Catalog information Adding applications to the Software Catalog Managing License assets for Software Catalog applications Associate Managed Installations with Cataloged Software Using software metering Using Application Control Update or reinstall the Software Catalog
Managing process, startup program, and service inventory Writing custom inventory rules
Deploying packages to managed devices
Distributing software and using Wake-on-LAN Broadcasting alerts to managed devices Running scripts on managed devices Using Task Chains
Patching devices and maintaining security
Using the Security Dashboard About patch management Subscribing to and downloading patches Creating and managing patch schedules Managing patch inventory Managing Windows Feature Updates Managing Dell devices and updates Managing Linux package upgrades Manage quarantined file attachments
Using reports and scheduling notifications Monitoring devices
Getting started with monitoring Working with monitoring profiles Managing monitoring for devices Working with alerts
Using the Service Desk
Configuring Service Desk Using the Service Desk Dashboard Managing Service Desk tickets, processes, and reports
Overview of Service Desk ticket lifecycle Creating tickets from the Administrator Console and User Console Creating and managing tickets by email Viewing tickets and managing comments, work, and attachments Merging tickets Using the ticket escalation process Using Service Desk processes Using Ticket Rules Run Service Desk reports Archiving, restoring, and deleting tickets Managing ticket deletion
Managing Service Desk ticket queues About User Downloads and Knowledge Base articles Customizing Service Desk ticket settings Configuring SMTP email servers
Maintenance and troubleshooting
Maintaining the appliance Troubleshooting the appliance
Appendixes Glossary About us Legal notices

View Agent task status

Managing Agent communications

Communications between the appliance and Agents installed on managed devices include inventory reports, alerts, patches, scripts, and crash logs. You can configure and view communications that are queued, or pending.

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Agents installed on managed devices periodically check in to the appliance to report inventory, update scripts, and perform other tasks.

You can configure the Agent settings, including the interval at which the Agents check in, messages displayed to users, and log retention time, as described in this section. If you have multiple organizations, you configure Agent settings for each organization separately.

If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. Then click Organizations. To display the organization’s information, click the organization’s name.

On the Organization Detail page that appears, locate the Communication and Agent Settings section.

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Then select Settings > Provisioning., and click Communication Settings on the Provisioning panel.

The Communication Settings page appears.

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Enable Agent Logging

Enabled

Whether the appliance stores scripting results provided by Agents installed on managed devices. Agent logs can consume as much as 1GB of disk space in the database. If disk space is not an issue, enable Agent Logging to keep all log information for Agent-managed devices. These logs can be useful during troubleshooting. To save disk space, and enable faster Agent communication, disable Agent Logging.

Agent Debug Trace

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to record the Agent's debug trace. This information allows administrators to monitor the Agent's performance, and to diagnose common problems.

Agent Inventory

12 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Agentless Inventory

1 Day

The frequency at which Agentless devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Catalog Inventory

24 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report inventory to the Software Catalog page.

Metering

4 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report metering information to the appliance. Requires metering to be enabled on devices and applications.

Scripting Update

4 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices request updated copies of scripts that are enabled on managed devices. This interval does not affect how often scripts run.

Max Download Speed

As required

The maximum download speed, as required. Choose from the available options.

Konea Connection Timeout

80 seconds

Configurable konea tunnel timeout check for bootup MI.

Enable Wait for Bootup Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing bootup tasks.

Enable Wait for Login Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing login tasks.

3.
In the Agent Settings tab in theAgent Status Icon Settings section, specify the following settings:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Status Icon On Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to display the agent status on managed devices.

Enable Agent Snooze on Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to suspend the agent's activity on managed devices using the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac OS).

Agent Snooze Max Count (per day)

1 snooze

The maximum number of times you can snooze the agent each day on managed devices.

Agent Status Icon Shortcuts

As required

Use this section to display links in the KACE Agent menu on agent-managed devices. You can specify up to ten links. Standard Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) links are supported, such as https, ssh, and ftp URLs. To add a link:

1.
2.
In the Display Name column, type the text that you want to display in the menu. For example, My FTP link.
3.
In the URL column, type the fully qualified URL address. For example, https://www.quest.com/. The URL supports the following replacement variables:

For complete information about these and other replacement variables, see Token replacement variables.

You can use the column headings to sort the list. In the KACE Agent menu, the links appear in the order they are listed on this page.

4.
In the Notify tab, specify the message to use for Agent communications:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Splash Page Message

Default text:

KACE Service Desk is verifying your PC Configuration and managing software updates. Please Wait...

The message that appears to users when Agents are performing tasks, such as running scripts, on their devices.

Agent Splash Bitmap

As required

The path to an existing .bmp file that you want to use as the splash logo.

Disable Bootup Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the boot-up splash logo.

Disable Login Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the login splash logo.

5.
In the Agentless Settings tab, specify communications settings for Agentless devices:

Option

Description

SSH Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

SNMP Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

Retry Attempts

The number of times the connection is attempted.

WinRM Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

VMware Timeout

The amount of time in seconds to wait for a connection to the VMware vSphere API service running on a VMware host.

NOTE: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, these Agent Tasks settings are located on the appliance System Administration Console General Settings page.

Option

Description

Last Task Throughput Update

This value indicates the date and time when the appliance task throughput was last updated.

Current Load Average

The value in this field depicts the load on an appliance at any given time. For the appliance to run normally, the value in this field must be between 0.0 and 10.0.

Task Throughput

The value that controls how scheduled tasks, such as inventory collection, scripting, and patching updates, are balanced by the appliance.

7.
In the Duplicate Machine Detection Settings (Advanced) section, configure the following options to prevent duplicate device records

Option

Description

Required to match an existing machine record

Select one or more of the following check boxes to indicate which device properties you want the appliance to use to identify potentially duplicated devices.

MAC Addresses

Specify the number of MAC addresses that are associated with the machine record that you to match with the existing device records.

8.
Click Save.
View Agent task status

You can view the status of tasks that are currently running, or that are scheduled to run, on Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click Display Agent task status to display the Agent Tasks page.
By default, In Progress tasks are listed. To view other tasks, select different filtering options in the View By drop-down list, which appears above the list on the right. Task information includes:

Column

Description

Device Name

The name of the device that is the target of the task.

Type

The type of task. Depending on appliance configuration, task types include alerts, inventory, kbot, krash upload, and scripting updates.

Started

The start time of the task.

Completed

The completion time of the task.

Next Run

The next scheduled run time for the task.

Run Time

How long it took to run the task.

Timeout

The time limit for completing the task.

Priority

The importance or rank of the task.

The options displayed depend on type of tasks available on your appliance. Typical options include:

Ready to Run (connected): Tasks that are connected through the messaging protocol and about to run.
Ready to Run: Tasks that are queued to run when an messaging protocol connection is established.
Longer than 10 minutes: Tasks that have been waiting longer than 10 minutes for a protocol connection.
The Device Detail page appears.
View the Agent Command Queue

The Agent Command Queue list shows messages, such as pop-ups and alerts, that have been queued for distribution from the appliance to Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
NOTE: Pending alerts appear on the Agent Command Queue page even if there is no connection between the Agent and the appliance.

The Agent Command Queue page contains the following fields:

Option

Description

Device Name

The name of the device. Click a name to view device details.

Type [Plug-in, Source]

The type of message, such as Run Process.

Command

The content and information contained in the message.

Expiration

The date and time when the message expires, also called Keep Alive time. Messages are deleted from the queue automatically when they expire.

Status

The status of the message, such as Completed or Received.

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

You can delete messages that are no longer needed from the Agent command queue.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
5.
Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

View the Agent Command Queue

Managing Agent communications

Communications between the appliance and Agents installed on managed devices include inventory reports, alerts, patches, scripts, and crash logs. You can configure and view communications that are queued, or pending.

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Agents installed on managed devices periodically check in to the appliance to report inventory, update scripts, and perform other tasks.

You can configure the Agent settings, including the interval at which the Agents check in, messages displayed to users, and log retention time, as described in this section. If you have multiple organizations, you configure Agent settings for each organization separately.

If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. Then click Organizations. To display the organization’s information, click the organization’s name.

On the Organization Detail page that appears, locate the Communication and Agent Settings section.

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Then select Settings > Provisioning., and click Communication Settings on the Provisioning panel.

The Communication Settings page appears.

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Enable Agent Logging

Enabled

Whether the appliance stores scripting results provided by Agents installed on managed devices. Agent logs can consume as much as 1GB of disk space in the database. If disk space is not an issue, enable Agent Logging to keep all log information for Agent-managed devices. These logs can be useful during troubleshooting. To save disk space, and enable faster Agent communication, disable Agent Logging.

Agent Debug Trace

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to record the Agent's debug trace. This information allows administrators to monitor the Agent's performance, and to diagnose common problems.

Agent Inventory

12 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Agentless Inventory

1 Day

The frequency at which Agentless devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Catalog Inventory

24 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report inventory to the Software Catalog page.

Metering

4 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report metering information to the appliance. Requires metering to be enabled on devices and applications.

Scripting Update

4 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices request updated copies of scripts that are enabled on managed devices. This interval does not affect how often scripts run.

Max Download Speed

As required

The maximum download speed, as required. Choose from the available options.

Konea Connection Timeout

80 seconds

Configurable konea tunnel timeout check for bootup MI.

Enable Wait for Bootup Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing bootup tasks.

Enable Wait for Login Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing login tasks.

3.
In the Agent Settings tab in theAgent Status Icon Settings section, specify the following settings:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Status Icon On Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to display the agent status on managed devices.

Enable Agent Snooze on Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to suspend the agent's activity on managed devices using the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac OS).

Agent Snooze Max Count (per day)

1 snooze

The maximum number of times you can snooze the agent each day on managed devices.

Agent Status Icon Shortcuts

As required

Use this section to display links in the KACE Agent menu on agent-managed devices. You can specify up to ten links. Standard Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) links are supported, such as https, ssh, and ftp URLs. To add a link:

1.
2.
In the Display Name column, type the text that you want to display in the menu. For example, My FTP link.
3.
In the URL column, type the fully qualified URL address. For example, https://www.quest.com/. The URL supports the following replacement variables:

For complete information about these and other replacement variables, see Token replacement variables.

You can use the column headings to sort the list. In the KACE Agent menu, the links appear in the order they are listed on this page.

4.
In the Notify tab, specify the message to use for Agent communications:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Splash Page Message

Default text:

KACE Service Desk is verifying your PC Configuration and managing software updates. Please Wait...

The message that appears to users when Agents are performing tasks, such as running scripts, on their devices.

Agent Splash Bitmap

As required

The path to an existing .bmp file that you want to use as the splash logo.

Disable Bootup Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the boot-up splash logo.

Disable Login Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the login splash logo.

5.
In the Agentless Settings tab, specify communications settings for Agentless devices:

Option

Description

SSH Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

SNMP Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

Retry Attempts

The number of times the connection is attempted.

WinRM Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

VMware Timeout

The amount of time in seconds to wait for a connection to the VMware vSphere API service running on a VMware host.

NOTE: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, these Agent Tasks settings are located on the appliance System Administration Console General Settings page.

Option

Description

Last Task Throughput Update

This value indicates the date and time when the appliance task throughput was last updated.

Current Load Average

The value in this field depicts the load on an appliance at any given time. For the appliance to run normally, the value in this field must be between 0.0 and 10.0.

Task Throughput

The value that controls how scheduled tasks, such as inventory collection, scripting, and patching updates, are balanced by the appliance.

7.
In the Duplicate Machine Detection Settings (Advanced) section, configure the following options to prevent duplicate device records

Option

Description

Required to match an existing machine record

Select one or more of the following check boxes to indicate which device properties you want the appliance to use to identify potentially duplicated devices.

MAC Addresses

Specify the number of MAC addresses that are associated with the machine record that you to match with the existing device records.

8.
Click Save.
View Agent task status

You can view the status of tasks that are currently running, or that are scheduled to run, on Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click Display Agent task status to display the Agent Tasks page.
By default, In Progress tasks are listed. To view other tasks, select different filtering options in the View By drop-down list, which appears above the list on the right. Task information includes:

Column

Description

Device Name

The name of the device that is the target of the task.

Type

The type of task. Depending on appliance configuration, task types include alerts, inventory, kbot, krash upload, and scripting updates.

Started

The start time of the task.

Completed

The completion time of the task.

Next Run

The next scheduled run time for the task.

Run Time

How long it took to run the task.

Timeout

The time limit for completing the task.

Priority

The importance or rank of the task.

The options displayed depend on type of tasks available on your appliance. Typical options include:

Ready to Run (connected): Tasks that are connected through the messaging protocol and about to run.
Ready to Run: Tasks that are queued to run when an messaging protocol connection is established.
Longer than 10 minutes: Tasks that have been waiting longer than 10 minutes for a protocol connection.
The Device Detail page appears.
View the Agent Command Queue

The Agent Command Queue list shows messages, such as pop-ups and alerts, that have been queued for distribution from the appliance to Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
NOTE: Pending alerts appear on the Agent Command Queue page even if there is no connection between the Agent and the appliance.

The Agent Command Queue page contains the following fields:

Option

Description

Device Name

The name of the device. Click a name to view device details.

Type [Plug-in, Source]

The type of message, such as Run Process.

Command

The content and information contained in the message.

Expiration

The date and time when the message expires, also called Keep Alive time. Messages are deleted from the queue automatically when they expire.

Status

The status of the message, such as Completed or Received.

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

You can delete messages that are no longer needed from the Agent command queue.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
5.
Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

Managing Agent communications

Communications between the appliance and Agents installed on managed devices include inventory reports, alerts, patches, scripts, and crash logs. You can configure and view communications that are queued, or pending.

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Agents installed on managed devices periodically check in to the appliance to report inventory, update scripts, and perform other tasks.

You can configure the Agent settings, including the interval at which the Agents check in, messages displayed to users, and log retention time, as described in this section. If you have multiple organizations, you configure Agent settings for each organization separately.

If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. Then click Organizations. To display the organization’s information, click the organization’s name.

On the Organization Detail page that appears, locate the Communication and Agent Settings section.

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Then select Settings > Provisioning., and click Communication Settings on the Provisioning panel.

The Communication Settings page appears.

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Enable Agent Logging

Enabled

Whether the appliance stores scripting results provided by Agents installed on managed devices. Agent logs can consume as much as 1GB of disk space in the database. If disk space is not an issue, enable Agent Logging to keep all log information for Agent-managed devices. These logs can be useful during troubleshooting. To save disk space, and enable faster Agent communication, disable Agent Logging.

Agent Debug Trace

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to record the Agent's debug trace. This information allows administrators to monitor the Agent's performance, and to diagnose common problems.

Agent Inventory

12 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Agentless Inventory

1 Day

The frequency at which Agentless devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.

Catalog Inventory

24 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report inventory to the Software Catalog page.

Metering

4 hours

The frequency at which managed devices report metering information to the appliance. Requires metering to be enabled on devices and applications.

Scripting Update

4 hours

The frequency at which Agents on managed devices request updated copies of scripts that are enabled on managed devices. This interval does not affect how often scripts run.

Max Download Speed

As required

The maximum download speed, as required. Choose from the available options.

Konea Connection Timeout

80 seconds

Configurable konea tunnel timeout check for bootup MI.

Enable Wait for Bootup Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing bootup tasks.

Enable Wait for Login Tasks

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from executing login tasks.

3.
In the Agent Settings tab in theAgent Status Icon Settings section, specify the following settings:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Status Icon On Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to display the agent status on managed devices.

Enable Agent Snooze on Device

Enabled

If selected, this option allows you to suspend the agent's activity on managed devices using the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac OS).

Agent Snooze Max Count (per day)

1 snooze

The maximum number of times you can snooze the agent each day on managed devices.

Agent Status Icon Shortcuts

As required

Use this section to display links in the KACE Agent menu on agent-managed devices. You can specify up to ten links. Standard Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) links are supported, such as https, ssh, and ftp URLs. To add a link:

1.
2.
In the Display Name column, type the text that you want to display in the menu. For example, My FTP link.
3.
In the URL column, type the fully qualified URL address. For example, https://www.quest.com/. The URL supports the following replacement variables:

For complete information about these and other replacement variables, see Token replacement variables.

You can use the column headings to sort the list. In the KACE Agent menu, the links appear in the order they are listed on this page.

4.
In the Notify tab, specify the message to use for Agent communications:

Option

Suggested Setting

Notes

Agent Splash Page Message

Default text:

KACE Service Desk is verifying your PC Configuration and managing software updates. Please Wait...

The message that appears to users when Agents are performing tasks, such as running scripts, on their devices.

Agent Splash Bitmap

As required

The path to an existing .bmp file that you want to use as the splash logo.

Disable Bootup Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the boot-up splash logo.

Disable Login Splash

Disabled

If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the login splash logo.

5.
In the Agentless Settings tab, specify communications settings for Agentless devices:

Option

Description

SSH Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

SNMP Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

Retry Attempts

The number of times the connection is attempted.

WinRM Timeout

The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.

VMware Timeout

The amount of time in seconds to wait for a connection to the VMware vSphere API service running on a VMware host.

NOTE: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, these Agent Tasks settings are located on the appliance System Administration Console General Settings page.

Option

Description

Last Task Throughput Update

This value indicates the date and time when the appliance task throughput was last updated.

Current Load Average

The value in this field depicts the load on an appliance at any given time. For the appliance to run normally, the value in this field must be between 0.0 and 10.0.

Task Throughput

The value that controls how scheduled tasks, such as inventory collection, scripting, and patching updates, are balanced by the appliance.

7.
In the Duplicate Machine Detection Settings (Advanced) section, configure the following options to prevent duplicate device records

Option

Description

Required to match an existing machine record

Select one or more of the following check boxes to indicate which device properties you want the appliance to use to identify potentially duplicated devices.

MAC Addresses

Specify the number of MAC addresses that are associated with the machine record that you to match with the existing device records.

8.
Click Save.
View Agent task status

You can view the status of tasks that are currently running, or that are scheduled to run, on Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click Display Agent task status to display the Agent Tasks page.
By default, In Progress tasks are listed. To view other tasks, select different filtering options in the View By drop-down list, which appears above the list on the right. Task information includes:

Column

Description

Device Name

The name of the device that is the target of the task.

Type

The type of task. Depending on appliance configuration, task types include alerts, inventory, kbot, krash upload, and scripting updates.

Started

The start time of the task.

Completed

The completion time of the task.

Next Run

The next scheduled run time for the task.

Run Time

How long it took to run the task.

Timeout

The time limit for completing the task.

Priority

The importance or rank of the task.

The options displayed depend on type of tasks available on your appliance. Typical options include:

Ready to Run (connected): Tasks that are connected through the messaging protocol and about to run.
Ready to Run: Tasks that are queued to run when an messaging protocol connection is established.
Longer than 10 minutes: Tasks that have been waiting longer than 10 minutes for a protocol connection.
The Device Detail page appears.
View the Agent Command Queue

The Agent Command Queue list shows messages, such as pop-ups and alerts, that have been queued for distribution from the appliance to Agent-managed devices.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
NOTE: Pending alerts appear on the Agent Command Queue page even if there is no connection between the Agent and the appliance.

The Agent Command Queue page contains the following fields:

Option

Description

Device Name

The name of the device. Click a name to view device details.

Type [Plug-in, Source]

The type of message, such as Run Process.

Command

The content and information contained in the message.

Expiration

The date and time when the message expires, also called Keep Alive time. Messages are deleted from the queue automatically when they expire.

Status

The status of the message, such as Completed or Received.

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

You can delete messages that are no longer needed from the Agent command queue.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.
3.
In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.
5.
Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

Updating the KACE Agent on managed devices

Updating the KACE Agent on managed devices

The appliance automatically checks with Quest for KACE Agent updates at approximately 03:40 every day. In addition, the appliance checks Quest for Agent updates whenever the appliance is rebooted.

When Agent updates are available, they are automatically downloaded to the appliance, provided that the appliance is connected to the Internet, and an alert appears on the Home page of the appliance Administrator Console. Until you configure deployment settings, however, Agent updates are not automatically deployed to managed devices. Click the link in the alert to configure deployment settings.

In addition, you can check for Agent software updates, obtain Agent updates manually, and configure Agent update settings any time. Obtaining updates manually is useful if your appliance is not connected to the Internet.

View KACE Agent updates

You can view KACE Agent updates in the Administrator Console.

1.
Go to the appliance Control Panel:
If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
The Appliance Updates page appears. The current Agent bundle appears in the Agent section.
3.
Optional: To check for updates: In the Agent section, click Check for Update.
Configure Agent update settings

After Agents are installed on devices, they are designed to update themselves automatically based on the Agent update settings you choose on the Update Agent Settings page. This is true regardless of the provisioning methods used to deploy the Agents, including appliance provisioning, GPO wizard, other GPO deployments, or image deployment.

If you have multiple organizations, you configure Agent update settings for each organization separately.

1.
Go to the Update Agent Settings page:
a.
Log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.
c.
On the Provisioning Panel, click Agent Update from KACE.
2.
Click Apply in the Available Agent Bundle section.
The new Agent version number appears in the Advertised Updates section, and the Enabled check box in the Agent Settings section is cleared, disabling automatic updates. This enables you to test the updates on selected devices before deploying them system-wide.

Option

Description

Enabled

Deploy the update to the selected appliance devices during the next scheduled inventory interval. Clear the check box to prevent updates from being installed.

Modified

Read-only: The time the most recent Agent bundle was downloaded.

All Devices

Deploy the update to all devices that have the KACE Agent installed. If this option is selected, the Devices and Labels elements do not appear on the page.

Devices

Update only specific devices. Select the device names in the drop-down list that appears when you click in the field, or type the first few characters of a device name to sort the list. For example, type Dev to list matching device names such as Device-1, Device-2, and so on. This option is not available when you select All Devices.

Restrict to Labels

Display the Edit Labels dialog. Search for and select labels, and update devices assigned to the selected labels. This option is not available when you select All Devices.

Notes

Any additional information you want to provide.

4.
Click Save.
5.
If you limited deployment to specified devices for testing, select additional devices in the Agent Settings section of the Update Agent Settings page when your testing is complete.
Upload Agent updates manually

In most cases, Agent updates are automatically downloaded to the appliance when they become available. However, you can download updates from Quest and manually upload Agent updates to the appliance as needed. This is useful if your appliance is not connected to the Internet, or if Agent updates are available but have not yet been downloaded to the appliance automatically.

To download Agent updates from Quest, you must obtain customer login credentials by contacting Quest Support at https://support.quest.com/contact-support.

If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the appliance System Administration Console, https://appliance_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings > Control Panel.
2.
On the left navigation bar, click Appliance Updates to display the Appliance Updates page.
3.
Click Check for Agent Updates in the Agent section.
5.
Go to the Update Agent Settings page:
a.
Log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.
c.
On the Provisioning Panel, click Agent Update from KACE.
If a new update appears in the Available Agent Bundle section, click Apply.
If you manually downloaded an update, go to the Manually Upload Agent Bundle section, click Browse or Choose File, locate the file that you downloaded, then click Upload.
The new Agent version number appears in the Advertised Updates section, and the Enabled check box in the Agent Settings section is cleared, disabling automatic updates. This enables you to test the updates on selected devices before deploying them system-wide.
8.
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